Cllr Cathal Crowe, a graduate of UL, tabled a motion at Clare Council Council this Monday night to have the campus renamed as the University of Limerick and Clare.

The motion received the full backing of the council, Cllr Crowe said, and a letter is now being written for the university's governing authority, its highest decision making body, urging that due consideration be given to renaming the university.

"I am not doing this to antagonise the University of Limerick or Limerick City Council. It's a serious proposal and I hope it will be treated as such," the Fianna Fail councillor told www.limerickleader.ie

He said he isn't confident that it will be passed this year, but believes the name will be changed within a decade "to reflect its dual county status".

But the Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Kevin Kiely, said he would be opposed to any renaming of the college. "It was named the University of Limerick and it should remain as such," said Mayor Kiely, a member of Governing Authority.

The university was made aware of the motion this Tuesday morning, but was not in a position to comment at the time of going to print.
Cllr Crowe noted that in 1998 Galway RTC Regional Technical College changed it's name to the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), and UL recently signed a strategic alliance with NUI Galway.

"We are very much friends of Limerick out here in Clare. We have ongoing meetings, co-operation and a very healthy relationship," he said.

Hundreds of acres of land in the university's north campus in Co Clare were purchased during the term of former president, Dr Roger Downer. Since then, new developments have been springing up on the Clare side of the campus, including the new home of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the new presidential residence.

The Graduate Medical School and the Health Science Department are also located on the Clare side of the campus, which is linked with the main campus in Limerick via the €17m Living Bridge.